For Someone Who’s Never Meditated Before

One of the things I hear most from people just starting to meditate is that they “have trouble clearing [one’s] mind.”  I’ve talked to people who tell me they feel worse after “trying to meditate” and not getting anything out of it – like they’re defective.  The reality is, a lot of meditative techniques are […]

I Should Know My Self By Now

But, don’t get me wrong. I know. At least, I think I know better than most. I’ve spent most of my life in existential exploration and what is true for me now is as true for me as it has ever been: All knowledge is self-knowledge. Anything we think about the world or about anything, […]

Part I – Energy – Written 2002

Spirituality is a topic I’ve dealt with my entire life. I was brought up Methodist and confirmed Episcopalian, but I never really believed any of it; it all seemed too simple. From the time I could have independent perceptions about the world I questioned what was taught in every philosophy or theology I encountered. There […]

Part II – Consciousness – Written 2003

I begin this section almost a year after I wrote PART I. Upon the conclusion of PART I, I hastily wrote both a PART II and a PART III, which were as follows: PART II This will be rather hard to describe… I have discovered that, by writing my system of ideas down as I […]

Where Text Is – Written May 1, 2003

Text theory, to an individual, is the ability to think about text. I understand text, in it plainest form, to be anything physical that is interpreted by an individual as having significance. In other words, anything that is intercepted and interpreted through acoustics, sight, touch, taste, or smell is potential text. The real dependent factor […]

Taoism and T’ai Chi – Written November 30, 2001

Taoism and T’ai Chi are two of three “lost religions” of China. The other is Confucianism which, though similar to Taoism, is not nearly as related to T’ai Chi. T’ai Chi and Taoism, on the other hand, compliment each other very well. Tao simply means “The Way.” Taoism is a name given to a sequence […]

Existence and Non-existence – Written April 29, 2005

My entire life, ever since I can remember, the idea of existence has driven me; my mother tells me I am the most intense person she has ever met in regards to experience. Indeed, my exploits into greater realms of existence can find me bedding down with angels and demons, experience hell and heaven in […]

Comprehensive Stress Management Program Project – Written April 28, 2005

Apology This is a segment outside of my project I’ve chosen to include to give some perspective into this project. What I came to understand in the one day I wrote this entire project was profound; in an attempt to capture what I experienced that day, I have done little editing, hoping that the unorthodox […]

Contemporary Taoism and its Gesticulations – Written December 9, 2002

In the early morning of December fifth, 2002, the state of North Carolina had one of the most fantastic ice storms I have ever seen. Much of my life has been spent in northeastern Pennsylvania, where the autumn is cold and the winters could feel arctic. Even in all my days of blizzards and multiple […]